Executive Summary
Due to minimal barriers to entry in the Canadian coffee shop industry, the ‘Smart Cup Coffee Shop’ would start its operation in Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada with relatively effortlessness and with minimum establishment costs by choosing rental premises at the south gate of Cape Breton University; however, the company will start with leasing machinery, accessories, decorating, furniture and fittings.
Considering the students, teachers and staff of the educational institution as target customers, the company will further open new branches besides the other Universities and colleges of Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada.
The ‘Smart Cup Coffee Shop’ would be operated for from 9 am to 9 pm, considering such operation, it has estimated that full running Coffee Shop would require for two (3) full-time managerial employees to look after marketing, administration, nutrition and dietetics; moreover, it should require one (1) full-time accountant and 25 part-time service employees.
There are three (3) existing coffee parlors in the campus of the Cape Breton University; at the same time, most of the part time and full-time employees would be appointed from the students of the Cape Breton University, such recruitment policy would provide an enhanced edges for the company to triumph over the rivals.
The Cape Breton University campus students, teachers, staffs and hostel borders are the largest demographic for ‘Smart Cup Coffee Shop’; however, this company will be the best performer in the campus business as the entrepreneurs are capable of understanding what the desire of the customers in Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada.
The ‘Smart Cup Coffee Shop’ will incorporate a variety of promotional strategies at its operation includes daily deals, night refreshment, re-usable mugs, Smart bucks, ruffle draw, punch cards, festoon, placard, billboard social media, and online advertising, targeting the students and communities of Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada.
The pricing policy of the ‘Smart Cup Coffee Shop’ will be similar to the standard price that the competitors regularly offer, but would allow 3% to 7% discount following different promotions round the year. The entrepreneurs will supply a sound equity, for the rest part of investment will be borrowed from commercial bank; however, it would like to reach at break-even point by 4th month’s operation; moreover, it will be capable of returning borrowed sum within 5 years.
Coffee Shop Industry Description
The proposed “Smart Cup Coffee Shop” would be located in Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada; consequently, the industry analysis needed to keep keen eyes on the Canadian Coffee Shop Industry. The IBISWorld (2014, p.1) illustrated in the market research that the Australian coffee shop industry has a sales volume of $ 4 billion with a steady growth of 5.3 % per annum according to the statistics of 2014, there are about 85,000 people are Employed in this industry.
The Canadian and the US coffee market attributes represent the similar consumption dynamics; only difference is that the juice and bottling beverage and water consumption in the US-market is higher while the Canadian market is 8% higher for coffee consumption; high cost for raw materials and the rising demand for coffee shops indicate the flavorless of the Canadian people for coffee
According to the census of 2011, Sydney, Nova Scotia has 108,724 and the demography illustrates that the population of this region is gradually decreasing, although the Coffee Shops industry analysis represent a trend of this region illustrates a rising demand for coffee drinks.
The coffee shop and bakery industry characteristics that the profound and vibrant coffee culture in this region has demonstrated that there were no impact in this industry due to the global financial crisis during the past half-decade and the market attributes indicates easy entry scope for newcomers and hindrance free exit. Tim Hortons and Starbucks are the most prominent competitors in the Canadian market, rather than the giants, there are around few thousands of coffee shops and parlors that do not influence each other.
The Coffee Association of Canada (2012, p.1) mentioned that coffee industry of Canada has divided into few sectors, such as, Grocery and Retail sector, Foodservice, Office Coffee Sector; however, the industry has an annual turnover around $ 5 billion with employment opportunity of one million people.
Smart Cup Coffee Shop has planned to enter in the Retail sector of the industry in Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada where independent coffee shop has no considerable competition in the local areas. Significant competition exists in the coffee shop chain shops like Tim Hortons and Starbucks while ‘Smart Cup Coffee Shop’ would act as an independent coffee shop; therefore, the proposed company enjoys competitive edge at its locality.
Business Description
Table 1: Short business description. Source: Self-generated
Management, Advisor and Staffing
The entrepreneurs will operate this business together; therefore, they would like to focus on the simple organizational structure to oversee everything from the products to human resource. One of the owners “Jill Lee” was a house-wife and she had completed graduation in September 2012; however, she will open an outlet with limited space known as ‘Smart Cup Coffee Shop’.
Jill Lee will control this Coffee Shop Segment as a CEO and manager; on the other hand, another owner “Sid” have completed graduation in Business Administration and he will participate in the business as a Chairman and a manager of Bakery segment.
This coffee shop will have four units, and more than 10 employees for different tasks; however, the number of employees will increase considering business condition and sales forecast; in addition, but they will fix the wage range of $7 to $14 per hour to make various types of products. The next chart shows the organizational structure of the Smart Cup Coffee Shop:
Two managers will be responsible to oversee the key operating system of the business and the performance of the employees in different sectors; in addition, the managers will provide training to the staff to develop skills and efficiency level of the workforce; however, the owners will not recruit any advisor at this stage.
Opportunities
The entrepreneurs have already decided to start business in a convenient place in Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada; however, they will establish this coffee shop in a high-populated place, for instance, surrounded place of Cape Breton University, in order to get more customer traffic. The owners will offer discounts for the loyal customers and students, create a website for the company, decorate coffee shop with creative ideas and put online games for the children, and prepare a multimedia marketing strategy to attract target customers.
At the same time, the entrepreneurs of Smart Cup Coffee Shop will introduce modern technology, fast and well-organized operating process, online payment facility and home delivery system; so, the number of loyal customers will increase rapidly. In the era of globalization, this shop needs to compete with local and foreign companies for which it has to implement strategic plan to become successful in the high competitive market; however, this company will expand in the local market at the initial stage.
Production Plan
The ‘Smart Cup Coffee Shop’ has aimed to manage and administer the business operations in most cost effective approach; therefore, the detailed production plan has designed as follows:
Facilities and assets
The facilities would be developed as a medium sized coffee shop with five executive cabins, three dining halls, five washrooms, and three kitchens on the ground floor to second floor where all the cabins and dining halls would be integrated under central air-condition system.
Most of the tools and equipment for the coffee shop and bakery would be available for the facilities of ‘Smart Cup Coffee Shop’ and the facilities would be developed with coffee machines, water boilers, drink dispensers, fountains, countertop, wall mounted serve over, counters filter, and so on. The coffee shop premises would be rented, but all the tools and equipment would be purchased from most prestigious suppliers.
The company would be very attentive to uphold the quality of coffee that would be served at ‘Smart Cup Coffee Shop’, however, it will use Dunkin Donuts coffee beans, which will import from the Ethiopian outlets of Wal-Mart. There would be no dilemmas for transportation of the imported goods of the company as the company has settled to establish the coffee shop at Cape Breton University, Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada that is an ancient city situated on Cape Breton Island’s east coast and founded during the British colonial rule.
The selected location of the ‘Smart Cup Coffee Shop’ has connected with Highway 125 that reaches to the Highway105; at the same time, the Trunk 4 had connected the coffee shop premises to the way of Sydney River as well as Glace Bay; so, it will enjoy an enhanced opportunity for transportation, customer attraction and further extension.
The entrepreneurs of the ‘Smart Cup Coffee Shop’ have settled their mindset to open new outlets in the near future all the way through Nova Scotia; here, the good access to transportation along with the scope of business spread out facilities will inspire the management to open more stores in the surrounding cities in near future.
The entrepreneurs of this company will work very solid to make out the most suitable place to set up the coffee shop; during the selection process of the location, they keep attention to some significant factors such as the market demand, scope of expansion, trade risk, buyer behavior, purchasing power of people of that location, target customers, and social and cultural factors.
They also acknowledge several prospective educational institutions of where the ‘Smart Cup Coffee Shop’ would further extend its facilities and looking for suitable premises near the Canadian College of Acupuncture, McKenzie College, Traditional Chinese Medicine College, Maritime Environmental Training Institute (METI), Island Career Academy, and Nova Scotia Community College includes Center for Distance Education.
Materials and supplies
The ‘Smart Cup Coffee Shop’ will emphasis to maintaining the quality of its products and will use the Dunkin Donuts coffee beans imported from the Ethiopian outlets Wal-Mart; the company will contact with several reliable farmers in Kenya for its coffee supplies those could be alternative source of supplies to ensure uninterrupted supply of coffee.
In Sydney, Nova Scotia, the company would have enough warehouse facilities with a storage capacity of 5000 M tons where the company could easily preserve so many supplies like beverages and beverage mixes, bottled water, hot chocolate, green” supplies, coffee cup sleeves, coffee stirrers and coffee straws, dispenser napkins, disposable bags, disposable cups and lids, plastic flatware, utensils and others.
At the same time, the company will ensure its compliance with the local trade law, labor law, and regulation of the local government of Sydney, Nova Scotia with special care to the shipping terms, customs-regulations, along with ecological issues.
Personnel
At the opening, ‘Smart Cup Coffee Shop’ will start its journey with limited staff; it should require three (3) full-time managerial employees to look after marketing, administration, nutrition and dietetics; it needs three (3) assistants and one (2) full-time accountant and 25 part-time employees; however, total number of employees will be thirty-three (33).
The number of employees is not fixed; it could be increased depending on the requirement of the coffee shop and business expansion in near future; the company will distribute the staff according to requirements of different departments. The company always conduct training program for its employees in order to improve the existing skills, and experience of the employees; the management will decide on the area of training accordingly with the objective to keep the employees familiar with the mission and vision of the company.
Operations
During the business operation, ‘Smart Cup Coffee Shop’ would ensure its compliance with local trade law, labor law, and regulation of the local government of the Sydney, Nova Scotia with special care to the shipping terms, customs-regulations, along with ecological issues; moreover, the company will conform industry standards for production including environmental, health and safety measures, and business law.
Marketing Plan
Potential Market and Target Customers
As the company has already rented suitable premises at the south gate of the Cape Breton University, it would essentially focus on the students of different ages and ethnicity would be the major target customer; at the same time, it would also focus on teachers, staff, local people, tourists, travelers, and so on. According to the marketing scholars, the middle aged and elderly people besides of youngsters and children have the enhanced priority as customer of coffee shop.
According to census of 2011, Nova Scotia is the 7th largest province for population density in Canada with an approximate population of 921,727; there are 17.2 people per square kilometer where about 60% of them live in the rural area of the province.
The demographic composition illustrates that the population of 2011 was 7.3% less than a decade back, 21% of the populace was under the age group of twenty, and 16.6% people were over 65 years; in Sydney, there were 31,979 married families under common law structure; in 2011, migration rate was very low while 98.7% population were Canadian citizens. The demographic attributes would assist to harmonize a suitable marketing plan and settling on the target customers for the ‘Smart Cup Coffee Shop’.
Competition
Tim Hortons and Starbucks are the most prominent competitors in the Canadian coffee shop market, rather than the giants, there are around few thousands of coffee shops like Ugly Mug Cafe & Emporium, Wentworth Perk Coffee House, Fiddle Café, Bean Bank Café & Catering and so on.
The Tim Hortons and Starbucks occupy the major market shares though there are some other indirect competitions with the food and beverage shops, but the market attributes illustrates that there are around few thousands of coffee shops and parlors that do not affect each other.
Technology
The ‘Smart Cup Coffee Shop’ has aimed to introduce the latest technology available in the market; at the same time, the company would not forget to integrate the latest shifting dynamics of the coffee shop industry that is the establishment of ICT infrastructures for automation of the production, marketing, and communication including order management and accounting.
Socio-political environment
The owners of ‘Smart Cup Coffee Shop’ have confirmed that the company will introduce a casual corporate culture with friendly working environment where the employees will give the highest effort to attain the goals of the company; the management will closely scrutinize recruitment policy and there would be no racial issues; however, talent and skilled candidate will get privilege without discrimination based on color race or ethnicity.
Problems and opportunities
The company would go through some dilemmas for inadequate capital, impact followed by the global financial crisis, compliance with the governmental regulations, high staff turnover, and reduction of purchasing power of the customers; in contrast, the company will enjoy opportunities of easy entrance in the market, tax holidays increasing demand of coffee shops, and political stability.
Strategies
As a new entry in the market of Sydney, Nova Scotia, ‘Smart Cup Coffee Shop’ would strongly emphasis on the pricing strategy and promotional strategy; furthermore, it will consider two strategies as tools to bring success in the operation; in addition, the action plan below has presented the strategies broadly:
Action plan
Product
The prime product list of the company will integrate with coffee, tea, beverage, and bakery items; in these four categories, there would be 65 varieties of product available in the ‘Smart Cup Coffee Shop’; every product would be unique for its flavor and taste; therefore, the health conscious people would consider coffee shop as a reliable dining.
Raw materials of all the products would be collected from various resources; however, without any preservative, the green concept, organic foods, high quality products will assist this business to attract customers; this company will successfully accomplish of the branding, and lucrative packaging will directly generate benchmarks to guarantee fresh food.
Pricing Strategy
Smart Cup Coffee Shop will consider competitive pricing policy; in addition, product price will fix taking into account the market condition and survey reports; most of the coffee shop in this place offer reasonable price, as students are the main target customers. The pricing policy will depend on few factors, such as, production costs, sales volume, and other issues; however, the next table provides more information about pricing policy:
Table 2: Pricing structure of Smart Cup Coffee Shop. Source: Self generated
Place/Distribution Strategy
The ‘Smart Cup Coffee Shop’ will establish only one outlet in Sydney, Nova Scotia that would offer breakfast, coffee, fast food and bakery items for which the manufacturing procedure and the preparation of foods would be completed in the kitchen of the company and would be served at the dining halls of the coffee shop. The other distribution of the items would be organized from the online ordering and would be distributed by the sales representatives to the customers’ premises.
Promotional Strategy
The marketing team of the ‘Smart Cup Coffee Shop’ will introduce IMC campaign with the direct supervision of management with the aim to build up brand awareness; such advertising drive will generate awareness and attraction of the local inhabitants; the company will introduce promotional drives by offering special discount, instant gift, lucky coupon, buy-one-get-one and so on.
Financial Plan
Important Assumption
Table 3: Start-up Requirements. Source: Self generated
Projected Income Statement for the next 3 years
Table 4: Projected Income Statement for three years. Source: Self generated
Pro forma Balance Sheet for the next 3 years
Table 5: Projected Balance Sheet. Source: Self generated
Projected Cash flow for the next 3 years
Table 6: Projected Cash Flow. Source: Self-generated
Ratio Analysis
Table 7: Ratio Analysis for Smart Cup Coffee Shop. Source: Self-generated
Pro forma Profit and Loss Account for 12 months
Table 3: Projected Income Statement for first 12 months. Source: Self generated.
Break-even Analysis
The break-even analysis of a business entry represents the particular stage of the operation where there is no loss or profit; the business is running without profit or loss indicates that the sales revenue and all spending are equal; sales revenue higher than the break-even point would indicate profit and the sales revenue less than break-even point would indicate loss.
From the above break-even analysis of ‘Smart Cup Coffee Shop’ illustrates that the company will reach at its break-even point within 3 months of operation.
Reference List
Coffee Association of Canada. (2012). The Role of the Coffee Sector in Canada. Web.
IBISWorld. (2014). Cafes and Coffee Shops in Australia: Market Research Report. Web.